BROOKFIELD — The Board of Finance has agreed to a special appropriation to help cover unexpectedly high costs for special education in town schools.

Without this appropriation, which is subject to voter approval at an upcoming town meeting, the school district might have laid off staff to offset the $870,000 cost of placing 12 students outside the district to obtain needed services.

The board voted 5-1 Tuesday night to appropriate $470,500 to cover part of the cost. The Board of Education had previously arranged to cover the remaining amount using savings in other areas.

The finance board also unanimously approved using almost $120,800 from the contingency fund to make up the difference in what the district expected to get from a state special education grant — about $900,000 — and the $779,000 it expects to receive.

The Board of Education had budgeted for 18 students to receive services outside the district, but for various reasons the actual number turned out to be 30, which Chairman Colette Sturm said could not have been predicted during last year’s budget process.

The district is required by law to pay to send special education students to another school if they cannot be served in Brookfield schools. Ridgefield faces a similar budget difficulty this year.

The $470,500 special appropriation would be drawn from money the town received from its former health insurance provider that otherwise would have gone into the general fund balance. What remains from that check—$70,000 — will go into the fund balance.

While the town tries to avoid drawing from its balance, rating agencies have said it is acceptable in an emergency situation, First Selectman Steve Dunn said.

“It’s not going to hurt you, especially if you say, ‘Look at my general fund balance from the end of fiscal ‘17 to the end of fiscal ‘18. It’s going to grow,’” he said. “That shows good fiscal conservative management that you’re able, if you ever have to use your unassigned general fund balance, to replenish that immediately.”

But finance board member Glenn Rooney suggested giving the district $60,000 less, so that more money could go to the general fund. He questioned why this year the district could not cut some clerical positions that the school board removed from next year’s budget, as well as library clerk positions the board had considered cutting next year.

“It makes no sense to spend this money in this current year in this position...to have it be the first thing to come out in the going forward year,” Rooney said. “That, to me, is throwing money away.”

Sturm said it would be impossible to cut those staff members this year.

Meanwhile, board Chairman Sean Hathorn moved unsuccessfully to give the district an additional $135,000. He said this would not significantly hurt the general fund and would prevent the schools from needing to cut supplies, conference, furniture, technology and other budgets to cover the shortfall.

“These are things that our general population of students feel, see, they sit on,” he said. “To cut those things or to not fund those things this year has a direct impact on the students.”